Charles Andrews writes:
> Note well: Just last week I tried, without success, to fit a
> Campagnolo Record Triple bb from the 70s into a Rivendell
> with a 130mm rear spacing. Even with a 2mm or so spacer I
> could not get the crank far enough from the stay to clear it,
> [snip]
> The bb spindle on this triple is well-offset, but only 117mm
> total length.
Sounds like you were using a pre-'78 triple axle, and probably a post-'78 right crank. The post '78 triple axle I have out of a bike to measure is 124mm. It is Italian, so an English triple might be 1-2mm shorter but not nearly as short as your 117.
I'm using an old Campy Record Triple on my tandem*, which is 135 in back, so there shouldn't be a problem with a properly built 130 rear. I have seen some Rivs with what I consider to be inadequate clearance there, odd considering Grant's championing of narrow "tread" as the ancients called it, or Q-factor as he calls it. But maybe not so odd though, as he doesn't build the frames. The ones I saw with the stays too wide at the chainring clearance point were made at Match; probably current production has that corrected.
With an axle 3mm longer on each side, your crank would probably work, right? Bicycle Classics lists 'em at $28, worth a try? -or are you married to your Phil BB now?
* I actually had the tandem set up with a pre-'78 axle and post-'78 cranks, the setup I think you were trying to use, and it did work when my rear was set at 130mm. It gave an astonishingly narrow tread of 135mm, narrower than most any current double let alone a triple with a timing chain on the left. It took some cheating, like a spacer under the fixed cup, using an Italian (70mm) axle in a 68mm frame, and indents in the stay** for clearance, but it worked for years. When I spread the stays to 135 (dishless 7-speed), I went to the post-'78 English axle and now have scads of room with no extra spacers needed.
**In defense of my indented stays - they are 1-1/8" round, which is really quite large, and even where they are indented they are wider section than the stays on a Riv. I believe using very large stays and indenting them only at the point where they need clearance is stiffer than stays that are narrow-section all the way. Santana makes a big deal out of their non-indented stays, but mine are only as narrow as theirs at the clearance point, and wider everywhere else. Not indenting really is mainly a cost-saving step. (This only applies on bikes where max stiffness is a goal, like tandems and sprint bikes.)
Oh no I'm talking about frame stiffness again! I need help! Is there a twelve-step program?
Mark Bulgier
Seattle, Wa
USA